Former Taipei deputy mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) on Monday said that she had canceled a trip to China due to scheduling issues.
Huang — who stepped down as deputy mayor in December last year — is campaign manager for former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the Taiwan People’s Party presidential candidate. She was scheduled to visit China from Friday to Monday.
As a former deputy mayor, Huang is required to file an application to visit China in accordance with the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Her travel plans must be reviewed by a committee of officials from the Ministry of the Interior, the National Security Bureau, the Ministry of Justice, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and other agencies.
The Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Monday reported that MAC officials had received an application from Huang to visit China and granted a preliminary approval.
However, the application was withdrawn before it was reviewed by the committee, the newspaper reported.
An anonymous source familiar with the matter told the Liberty Times that friends of Huang had arranged for her to meet with executives of Taiwanese companies in China.
Her itinerary did not mention meeting with Chinese officials, the source said.
Huang said earlier last week that she was scheduled to take a personal tour in China.
“The date of the committee’s review was very close to my scheduled time for departure,” she said.
“To avoid causing inconvenience to my friends and Taiwanese business executives in China, and as we have stepped up campaigning for the presidential election, I withdrew the application,” she added.
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